going home.

“Home”. What a concept.

I hadn’t been in four years. It’s funny how a random span of time like that can be simultaneously super short and super long, isn’t it? So much has changed, and yet, at the same time, so little. It’s crazy how the place where we grew up stays with us… despite so much being different, I’ll always know it like the back of my hand. Being there, it felt as though I’d never left. Strange.

Of course, I did leave. My childhood bedroom now belongs to Jack, who painted the walls a deep, dark navy blue and completely redecorated the space. It’s, like, totally unrecognizable (the walls were pink when I moved out). Last summer my mom got a new puppy (I named him), Waffle. He’s a yorkie and so teeny and tiny and freaking adorable, I cannnn’t. We have a new, smaller dining room table as well as a new, smaller sofa in the living room. They’re both quite nice.

The beach is the same, and the sunsets are just a stunning as I’d remembered.

New little coffee shops have popped up all over the city, and trust me, I’m not complaining. This is a trend I can seriously get behind.

Jack, who I hadn’t seen in three years (wtf…?), is taller than me now. I’m officially the shortest sibling, which is so bizarre considering that for the entirety of our childhoods I was taller than both my little bros. I guess we always knew this day would come. Lol?

california feb '21

Anyway. Just above I’ve inserted a ‘lil slidshow of the heaps and heaps of photos I shot on film whilst home. You can also view the images on Flickr… to do so click here. (They aren’t all “good”, but I’m way more about capturing memories than taking technically perfect photos, you ought to know that by now lmao.)

What I got up to in CA (and some other stuff)

  • Travel justifications
    Okay, so, traveling mid-pandemic… um, I do not recommend. For both the the aller and the retour I had to have a negative PCR test (done within 72 hours of each departure) as well as a series of printed documents justifying my travel. It wasn’t incredibly difficult, but well, travel is already stressful enough without all of these additional headaches, you know?
  • Oceanside and Carlsbad
    I spent ample time in both (Oceanside being my hometown and Carlsbad, the city just next to it where I attended elementary and middle school), especially at the beach. My mom and I wandered around quite a bit, popping in and out of little boutiques and coffee shops. I may or may not have purchased, like, 5 new knit beanies. Oops.
  • Babies!
    Being reunited with the doggos was easily one of the highlights of my trip… I mean, I’m not gonna lie, they played a pretty significant part in motivating my lazy ass to make the loong journey home. Toby (the black and white shih-tzu I was gifted for Christmas in 2009, if I’m not mistaken) has aged a bit but he’s just as sweet and gentle as I’d remembered. Mabel (our second shih-tzu) is still a furry little ball of fiery energy. Flopsy (our third shih-tzu) was only a puppy when I last saw her in 2016… she’s grown a bit but still totally takes after her mama (Mabel). Which is to say… she literally never runs out of energy. Girlie is hyper AF. Meeting Waffle was, of course, a high point… he’s sooooo freaking cute… and our cats (Misty and Macy) haven’t changed a bit. Oh, and Jack has a parrot now, Ari, who will just not shut up in the mornings. Honestly, though, hearing a parrot mimic my parents and brother was pretty cool, so I can’t complain.
  • Coffee 
    I hit up a different coffee shop practically every day during my first week home and quickly established a few faves. Which were…
    For expresso: Seaborne Coffee
    For drip coffee: Bound Coffee Co.
    Other places I quite liked: Revolution Roasters, Camp Coffee Company, French Corner, Baba Coffee
  • Movies/time with fam
    Seeing my family was the best. I hadn’t seen either of my parents in over a year (fuck this pandemic…) and I guess I hadn’t realized just how terribly I’d missed them. We watched tons of movies together, my mom and I especially, and also binged about four seasons or so of Schitt’s Creek (which isn’t available on Netflix in France, sad face). Not much beats curling up on the couch with your fam, a shih-tzu or two, and an ice cream popsicle.

Here are a few iPhone pics. ♥

I for sure won’t be letting another four years pass by before my next visit.

That’s all. xoxo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

One comment on “going home.”

  1. Ahhh so glad you got to go home and see your family <3 so beautiful!